Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 2

January 4, 19974 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 4, 1997, 4:15 PM CST for 4 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 4, 1997, 4:15 PM CST (22:15 UTC)
Expired: Jan 4, 1997, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 64 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Clay County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Grant County, AR, Greene County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Lee County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Mississippi County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Phillips County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Randolph County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, Union County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Dunklin County, MO, Pemiscot County, MO, Benton County, MS, Bolivar County, MS, Coahoma County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Humphreys County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Panola County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Sunflower County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Washington County, MS, Carroll County, TN, Crockett County, TN, Dyer County, TN, Fayette County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Hardeman County, TN, Haywood County, TN, Henry County, TN, Lake County, TN, Lauderdale County, TN, Madison County, TN, Obion County, TN, Shelby County, TN, Tipton County, TN, Weakley County, TN

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:16 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

Warnings issued inside it

5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 4, 5:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Arkansas	65 min
Jan 4, 5:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden	49 min
Jan 4, 6:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Shelby, Tipton	31 min
Jan 4, 7:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Coahoma	32 min
Jan 4, 8:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Washington	50 min

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 131 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 41 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -257 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 658 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 211 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 244 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

944 
WWUS9 KMKC 042144
SEL2  
MKC WW 042144
ARZ000-TNZ000-MSZ000-050300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 2
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY MO
344 PM CST SAT JAN 4 1997

A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR

   PARTS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ARKANSAS                         
   PARTS OF WESTERN TENNESSEE                          
   PARTS OF NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI                        

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL 900 PM CST.

TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND DAMAGING
THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.


THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF EL DORADO ARKANSAS TO 35
MILES NORTH OF DYERSBURG TENNESSEE.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.
$$

C...TORNADOES AND A FEW SVR TSTMS WITH HAIL SFC AND ALF TO 1 3/4
INCHES.  EXTRM TURBC AND SFC WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CBS
WITH MAX TOPS TO 500.  MEAN WIND VECTOR 24035.

D...TSTMS ARE INCRG AHD OF SLOW MOVG CDFNT IN AXIS OF MDT INSTBY
/SFC-BASED LIFTED INDEX ARND -5/. ACTVTY XPCD TO CONT INTENSIFYING
THIS EVE AS LARGE-SCALE FORCING ASSOCD WITH APCHG SHRTWV MOVES ACRS
THE REGION. SHEAR PROFILES ARE CONDUCIVE FOR ISOLD
SUPERCELL/TORNADO DVLPMT.

E...OTR TSTMS...  CONT..WW 1..

...VESCIO

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 4, 3:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid and 5 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 1997 Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 1997 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 1997 Every tornado watch in 1997

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.